Last year's Greetings from Michigan paid tribute to the place he grew up, but Sufjan Stevens has already announced that he intends to record an album about each of America's 50 states.

Two territories in, this is not such a bad idea. Come On ... is a remarkable album that manages to pack in a state full of instruments (flugelhorns, choirs, presumably at least one watering-can solo) and sounds as simultaneously vast yet intimately detailed as Polyphonic Spree produced by Brian Eno.

Maybe Illinois is like that, but rather than spend his career trekking, Stevens has sought inspiration from history and hearsay. His songs are odd tales with self-explanatory but mythical titles like A Short Reprise for Mary Todd, Who Went Insane But for Very Good Reasons. As the journey commences, Stevens cleverly explores the dark Illinois underbelly by comparing the backgrounds of serial killer John Wayne Gacy Jr and his victims. But genuine disturbance is never quite allowed to shatter the awestruck, uplifting atmosphere. No sleep 'til Hawaii, then.